The Secret Of MissingNo.
by Dragoness
Summary: An anime/gameboy crossover. A volcanic eruption rocks Cinnabar, capturing the League's attention, so they send their very best to go investigate. There he'll find a secret so horrifying, so totally unimaginable...
1. The Briefing

Chapter 1  
"The Briefing"

"This is bad…" Lance sighed to himself as he skimmed through the latest damage reports from Cinnabar Island.

"You're telling me," Blaine scoffed from the corner of the office, without turning around. He was busying himself by brushing his Magmar with an insulated brush. True, Magmar had little or no hair to speak of, but she found the attention relaxing. The two of them both needed all the relaxation they could find after having their home completely destroyed.

Lance made a thin line with his lips. "Yes, I know it must be difficult…"

"Ha!" Blaine stood up and faced Lance with hands on hips, "You have no idea what a relief it is! Finally, we're rid of that no-good tourist trap for once and for all! Once I find the perfect location, I'll be able to set up the kind of gym I've wanted to maintain since the beginning!"

"Mag…"

Lance pretended not to have heard. "It's fortunate that you were able to warn everybody and make it safely to the mainland…"

"Hm."

"However…"

Lance was interrupted when the door to his office suddenly burst open, letting two teenage boys in, one of darker complexion with a Pikachu on his shoulder and a League cap on his head, and the other slightly taller with spiky brown hair and a yellow and green pendant hanging from his neck.

"Sorry we're late!" exclaimed the former.

"Argh…Sorry, Lance, but _he_ held me up," growled the latter.

"Did not!"

"You did too!"

"Did not!!"

"_Boys!_" Lance shouted before they could get any further, "The matter at hand…?"

"Uh…Sorry Lance," Ash said sheepishly, putting a hand behind his head.

"…Me too," Gary said after glaring at Ash one last time.

Lance sighed and resumed his seat at his desk, then motioned his three guests to sit down as well. They obeyed, with Blaine recalling Magmar, and Pikachu taking his seat on Ash's lap.

"Now…" Lance began after they were all situated, "I'm sure you've all heard about what happened at Cinnabar…"

"Yeah, that was bad, wasn't it?" Ash asked.

Lance stopped and stared at Ash for a moment. Gary took the hint and elbowed Ash none too gently. "Shut up and let him talk!"

"Huh?…Oh! Sorry, Lance…"

"…That's quite alright…" Lance sighed, knowing better than to try to fix the boy's manners, "…Now as I was saying…The damage to Cinnabar was quite extensive…" he tried, only to be interrupted, by Blaine this time.

"The whole island was destroyed! We know already! Just cut to the point!"

Lance narrowed his eyes at Blaine while the other two sweatdropped nervously. Finally Lance sighed. "Fine…I'll get to the point." He turned to Gary. "Oak, we need your help with the relocation of the citizens of Cinnabar Island. I trust you can properly influence the people of Viridian…?"

"You can count on me!" Gary smirked.

Lance nodded. "Very well then. Now that that's taken care of, I believe Blaine has some classified information he needs to share with us, also regarding the incident at Cinnabar…"

"What do you mean 'classified'?" Ash asked.

For once, Gary didn't reprimand Ash and actually added on, "Yeah, I thought the volcano just decided to go off really bad."

Lance shook his head. "While that is partly true, what you've heard is the result of being purposely underinformed by the media."

"You mean they've been lying!?" Ash exclaimed.

"…Yes. However, right now, we need you two to know the truth, and that's why you've been called here…Blaine?"

Blaine sneered and shifted position so he was speaking more directly to the group. "We all know that Cinnabar Island's been a tourist trap for decades. In addition to the hot springs, a group of Pokéscientists set up a lab there and part of their funding is the money they rake in from letting visitors take guided tours."

"What's that have to do with anything?" asked Ash.

"I'm getting there," Blaine answered in annoyance, "…Now, most of what they actually showed to tourists were nothing more than simple experiments that happened to be very flashy. This was all just for the money. The real experimentation went on deep within the lab where no one who wasn't authorized could even go near. As a matter of fact, one of their most top-secret experiments ever wasn't even conducted on Cinnabar Island! Instead, they sent some of their best lab technicians and most brilliant minds to a remote, man-made island created specifically for that experiment…Anyone wanna take a gander to the name of that experiment?"

Both Ash and Lance groaned. "Blaine, we _don't_ need anymore of your riddles…" Lance muttered.

Gary, however, wasn't fazed. "It was Project Mewtwo, wasn't it?"

Blaine beamed at the boy. "Exactly! Now you're proving you deserve the title Gym Leader'."

Gary's proud smirk turned into an embarressed blush when he saw Ash's glare.

"That's very nice and all, but maybe we should cut to the point?" Lance asked incisively, with a small grin towards Blaine.

Blaine had to hold his tongue to keep from making a comeback. "All right…Well, as you know…Project Mewtwo was cut short with quite a bang…" He paused to chuckle at his own wittiness.

Lance held his head in one hand and drummed his desk with his other. "Just get on with it, Blaine…"

Blaine cleared his throat. "Right. Well, after that little incident, the scientists back at Cinnabar panicked. They'd just wasted millions of dollars and lost their best scientists. With nowhere else to turn, they took out the minor field testings that they'd kept in the back cabinet for a year and began to really work with it and forced it into another experiment. If you ask me, I think they all just snapped and the only way they could deal with it was to bury themselves further into their 'research'…Hah, they sure did 'bury' something, didn't they?"

"Argh! No more puns!!" Lance cried, slamming his fists on the desk.

Ash, Gary and Pikachu sweatdropped and decided to keep quiet and let Blaine handle this.

"I'm just trying to lighten up the story!" Blaine countered.

"If you lighten it anymore, the whole thing's going to float up to the clouds…"

"Eh, alright, I'll keep it down…" He grinned as Lance loudly dropped his head onto the desk from the pain of having to hear yet another pun. He turned to Ash and Gary. "Anyways! The folks down at the lab had been watching a strange phenomenon that they noticed on the eastern shore of Cinnabar Island. From what they could find through the research of other scientist from all around the world, both past and present, no one had ever recorded what they were finding before."

"But what were they finding…?" asked Ash.

Blaine smirked, "Why, it's not so hard to figure out. What lives almost anywhere, comes in all shapes and sizes, is known all over the world, and yet we know nothing about it at all?"

"No…more…riddles…" Lance groaned.

"Uh…I thought you said they only found it on the eastern shore of Cinnabar?" said Ash.

"Don't be a moron, _moron_," Gary scoffed, "He's talking about Pokémon. You can find them anywhere from the bottom of the sea to the top of the highest mountain. There's hundreds of different species. Everyone knows about them, but there's still so much more about them that no one knows."

"And Gary gets it again!" Blaine grinned.

Ash growled something to himself about how the same people always get riddles right so they all must be rigged…

"However," Blaine continued, "They hadn't really found an actual Pokémon, just traces that proved its existence. It wasn't until one of them traveled to Viridian and chanced upon a retired bug catcher that they found their answer."

"A retired bug catcher?" Ash and Gary blinked in disbelief.

"That's right," Blaine nodded, "That old guy used to hunt around in the Viridian Forest, catching endless amounts of bugs, just like any good bug catcher. However, age got the best of the guy eventually, and he retired to live a peaceful life in Viridian with his granddaughter, but he could never resist the opportunity to catch more Bug Pokémon, and he made a hobby out of showing newbie trainers how to catch Weedles if they passed him on their way out of Viridian."

"He must be _really_ old if Blaine thinks-" Ash was cut off by Gary slapping his hand over his mouth before he could go any farther.

"Use your brain for once and _shut up_," Gary hissed.

If Blaine heard their exchange, he chose to ignore it. "Now, I bet you're wondering why that guy was so important to the research team, right?"

"And you're actually going to _tell_ us instead of asking a riddle, _right Blaine_?" Lance hinted none too subtly.

"You take the fun out of everything," Blaine muttered, "Well, fine…The thing is, that old bug catcher once caught this bizarre bug that no one had ever seen before. It had strange powers and attacks and he was afraid to even own it. So he took his rare capture and flew to Cinnabar, which was as far away as he had the imagination to travel, I bet. Anyway, when he got there, he released it into the ocean and then went back to Viridian to go on being a regular bug catcher."

"What!? He just released it? A really rare Pokémon that no one's ever seen before!?" Ash interrupted.

Blaine quieted somewhat. "Ash, you should know better than anyone else that some Pokémon just aren't meant to be caught and kept…"

After a moment's silence, Ash nodded.

"…But wait a second," Gary said, "If this Pokémon was so rare and powerful, how come a _bug catcher_ was able to catch it?"

Blaine smiled knowingly. "Well for one thing, apparently it was a bug type, and for another, apparently it's true power had nothing to do with strength or battling."

"…So why are you telling us all of this?" Ash questioned.

"That's a very good question! The answer to that is-"

"Not a riddle," Lance reminded him.

Blaine glared at Lance before continuing. "When the scientist returned to Cinnabar, he did a little surfing on the east of Cinnabar, and he took a Pokémon for defense and some ultra balls with him. To the shock of all his colleagues, he was able to catch the enigma and bring it back to the lab."

"If a bug catcher can do it, how hard can it be!?" Gary demanded.

Blaine chuckled. "Good point, but it's not important."

"So why don't you tell us what _is_ important?" Lance suggested. To himself, he made a mental reminder never to let Blaine give briefings again.

"Alright, the important thing is, those crazy scientists down in the lab began experimenting on the Pokémon, and they also decided to call it 'MissingNo.'"

"MissingNo.?" both Gary and Ash asked simultaneously.

"That's right. They called it MissingNo. to stand for "missing number." They weren't even sure that it was a real Pokémon at first and were afraid to submit it to Professor Westwood for the Pokédex, because of that, and because they also wanted to keep it a secret from the rest of the world so they could claim that they were indeed the first ones to ever discover it."

"But why wouldn't they want to put it in the Pokédex?" Ash queried.

"He just told you, numbskull," Gary groaned.

"But if they really discovered a new Pokémon, they _should_ share it with the rest of the world!" Ash insisted.

"Ehh…Don't worry about it, Ash," Blaine said, "The thing is, this project _also_ backfired on them, and somehow triggered a massive eruption from the volcano. I was lucky Magmar sensed it coming, so I was able to warn everybody, not to mention save my own skin."

"But…even after we plugged it up…?"

Blaine shook his head. "If anything, that barrier made the eruption even worse by building up the pressure underneath."

"So Blaine," Gary said, "why did you and Lance want to see _us_ about this? It looks like everything's over and done with. I mean, I can handle the people problem, no sweat, but there's nothing else to do right? I mean, especially from lamebrain here."

"_Excuse me_?" Ash glowered at Gary, who shrugged nonchalantly.

"Yes there is," Lance sighed, "Blaine's told me that the scientists told him that-"

"Hey, what happened to me giving the briefing?" Blaine interrupted.

"If we sit here listening to you any longer, it will be too late," Lance retorted, "Now listen. Apparently, the MissingNo. escaped sometime before eruption, and the scientists weren't able to find it again. After the eruption, they haven't had the chance to look for it, _but_ we're not going to let them. We, that is Blaine and I, believe that MissingNo. is too dangerous for a bunch of scientists and only an experienced trainer should go after it…"

"Eh…You mean me, right?" Gary asked.

"…No, I'm afraid not, Oak."

"Awww…"

"S-so you mean…me?" Ash asked, pointing to himself.

"That's right. Of all the trainers in the League, you've had the most encounters with powerful and legendary Pokémon and are of one of the highest ranks in the League. I want you to find this MissingNo., capture it, and then bring it back here so we can decide what to do with it."

"What!? Why does he always get to do the cool stuff?" Gary complained.

"I'm not done yet, Oak," Lance said, "I want _you_ to help Blaine with the media. It's important that none of this leaks out until _we_ know what's going on. Understood?"

"I'm gonna…help with the cover up…?"

"That's right. So far, everyone just believes that it was a huge volcanic eruption. We want them to keep thinking that. If they find out and ask about Ash's trip back to Cinnabar, you're going to tell them that he's going back simply to take another damage report and check over to make sure nothing of interest to the Pokémon League that's still intact has been left behind."

"No one's gonna believe that!" Ash exclaimed, "I've seen pictures! The whole place is nothing but-"

"Ashes," both Gary and Blaine sneered at the same time, but for different reasons. 

"That's not funny," Ash grumbled.

"No more puns!" Lance shouted, "If I hear one more pun-"

"Gee, he's really lancing out at us isn't he?" Blaine grinned. He and Gary started laughing.

Lance growled and concentrated on controlling his quaking temper. "…Blaine…Gary…if I were either of you two…"

"I…think he's trying to tell you to shut up," Ash grinned nervously.

The two jokesters quickly pulled themselves together and straightened up, completely serious again…

"…And just for the record," Lance told them calmly, "the term is 'lashing' not 'lancing.'" This prompted facefalls all around him.

Once he was sitting up again, Blaine mumbled, "So maybe I should've said that you were ready to stick a lance through our guts instead?"

Lance apparently didn't hear that comment. "So do you understand what you have to do?"

Ash nodded hesitantly. "Yeah…but I don't like it. We shouldn't be lying like that."

"We don't have a choice. If we're to take care of this without anyone else getting in the way, then we can't let anyone else know."

"But that's just like not putting it in the Pokédex! Maybe it wouldn't've escaped and blown up Cinnabar if someone else was able to help them!"

"…Ash…Just trust me on this. We need your help right now. All I'm asking is that you find it and bring it back. After that, then maybe we'll tell them the truth…but _only_ after that. First, we have to rely on you."

Ash grumbled to himself and didn't reply. Gary interrupted whatever inner thoughts he might have been having by nudging him. "C'mon Ashy boy. You get to play hero again. Aren't you good at that?"

"…I guess…"

"So what's the problem? Just go down there and catch it. No biggie, and then we tell the world. And of course, everyone calls you a hero…again…" When he didn't get a response, he continued, "Of course, if you're not up to it, Viridian's finest is _always_ ready for the job…"

"'Viridian's finest'?" Ash asked wryly.

"Me, of course! I'll catch that MissingNo. with no problem at all! You're not the _only_ one here who has experience with rare Pokémon. If you'll remember, _I _was the first one of us to encounter Mewtwo."

"And if what I'll remember is true," Lance replied, "you were horribly defeated by it."

"Uh…"

(A/N: For those of you wondering why Gary is making references to being the "first" one to see Mewtwo instead of the "only"…*****spoiler*****ash-tachi meet mewtwo again in a special 1.5 hour (or something) episode of pokémon johto and doesn't get his memory wiped that time*****)

"Not only did that _not_ happen to Ash, but he was even able to befriend it as well. He obviously knows how to handle rare and powerful Pokémon, which is very important for this assignment."

Ash shifted around in his seat. "Well…Alright..but I still don't like it…"

"Great!" Lance exclaimed and slapped his hand down on his desk, making everyone jump, "It's settled then. Ash and Gary, you are dismissed to your assignments. Blaine will stay here with me and help with other business. This meeting is adjourned."


	2. Gathering Info

A/N: What? This isn't One Heart? *checks* Nope, you're right it isn't. *o_O*; Weird, huh? If you've got questions about that, please check out my profile. I think I said everything to say there.  If, on the other hand, you have no idea what I'm talking about, continue on and enjoy the story without worries okay? Actually, even if you do know what I'm talking about, do that anyway, because really that's the point of posting this…*^_^*; 

Chapter 2

  


"Gathering Info"

Ash and Gary left the building and stood outside as the plateau winds blew past them, each lost in his own thoughts. Gary glanced over at Ash, who looked like he was thinking very hard about something. Gary laughed to himself as he thought about how strained Ash's brain must be right now, so he decided to help take his mind off whatever it was on.

"Pidgeot! I choose you!"

Ash glanced up as Gary's great bird of prey emerged with a white flash. Gary sent Ash a smirk before hopping on the back of his Pidgeot.

"Y'know Ashy boy, if I were you, I'd come with me to Viridian before you go chasing after that…MissingNo."

"To Viridian…?"

"Yeah, that's where Blaine said that bug catcher is. I'm sure we could find him, and then we could get some more details about this MissingNo. so we know what we're up against."

Ash put his hands on his hips and raised an eyebrow. "Did you say 'we'?"

Gary laughed, "Of course! You didn't actually think I was gonna let you go by yourself and steal all the glory, did you? Besides, I wanna see this thing for myself."

Ash took out a Pokéball and threw it, revealing his own Pidgeot. He got on. "Y'know, Lance isn't gonna be very happy with you when he finds out."

Gary just grinned. "Who says he has to find out?" With that, he tightened his grip, his fingers burying themselves into Pidgeot's soft down, "Pidgeot, let's go!"

"Pidgeooo!"

With just a few mighty flaps, they were off the ground and soon soaring high.

"After them, Pidgeot!" Ash ordered, and they took off too and closed the gap quickly.

"…Race ya!" Gary challenged across the wind. Ash and his Pidgeot were quick to accept and soon the two birds were booming through the sky, breaking the sound barrier in hopes of reaching Viridian before the other. In the end, it turned into a fierce clash of beaks, claws and feathers as they tried to shove each other off course so they could pull ahead. In the last seconds before they hit Viridian, Ash's Pidgeot rammed sideways into Gary's once again, and Gary's tried to push it away with a Wing Attack, but Ash's responded the same way, and their wings became a tangled mess of feathers and heated friction. They started dropping fast, each beating their wings forcefully to try to break free, but they really only ended up hitting the other's passengers on the head, but fortunately not knocking them off. The race ended with a cacophony of squawking, screaming, and gigantic crash right in the middle of a Viridian street, sending a huge cloud of dust and feathers outwards, causing the unfortunate bystanders to hack and cough. When the dust settled, both trainers and Pokémon were still at it. The Pidgeots continued to batter each other while the trainers shouted insults and accusations at each other.

"Get your Pidgeot away from mine!"

"Why should I!? You're the one who slammed into us!"

"Oh yeah!? Well it's your fault they got tangled up!"

"They wouldn't have gotten tangled up if you hadn't slammed into us!"

"I wouldn't've done that if you hadn't first!"

"What are you talking about!? You're the one who started it!"

"I did not!"

"Yes you did!"

"No I didn't!"

"Yeah you did!"

"Did not!"

"Tell that to Pidgeot!"

"Maybe I will!"

"Why don't you then!?"

"Hey Pidgeot! You're trainer's a-"

"PIIIIKAAAACHUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

A universal scream cut off the yelling as Pikachu blasted them with electricity. When he was through, he scolded them vigorously and the humans just had to agree. Worn and still sizzling slightly, they both recalled their Pidgeots, stood up, dusted themselves off, and attempted to look dignified for the crowd of people staring open-mouthed at them, all of which probably recognized them.

"…Let's go find that bug catcher, shall we?" Gary asked through his teeth.

"Let's," Ash nodded in agreement.

Gary turned crisply and began wandering off. "If we go to the gym, I can look through the records and find someone who matches the description we were given…" he told Ash casually.

Ash followed with his hands in his jacket pockets and Pikachu on his shoulder. "What description? All we know is he's a retired bug catcher."

"Exactly," Gary continued and began ticking off on his fingers, "A, we know the guy's a male. B, we know he was a Pokémon trainer, C, namely bugs. D, we know he's retired. E, he lives in Viridian. And finally," he added, switching to his other hand, "F, we know he caught MissingNo. and had to fly to Cinnabar to dump it off there." He put his hand in a fist and smirked self-assuredly at Ash. "That means, at one point in his career, and only once, he left Viridian. That should show up in the records too, thus narrowing down our search! Ha!"

"…How do you know he only left once?" Ash pointed out.

"Ash, please. Everyone knows that all the bug catchers from Viridian just hang out in the Viridian forest their entire lives."

"Well, what if he wanted to travel all over the world and catch all types of bug Pokémon!?"

"Ash, you're making this complicated! It was a perfect plan until you butted in!"

"But what if you made a list and we walked all through Viridian looking for this guy, but we missed him because he left more than once and you just never put him on the list?"

Gary growled in growing frustration and anger. See, Gary had a very _small_ list of people that could get away with making him look stupid…Very small…Ash Ketchum was on the list of people that could only look stupid themselves.

"Well, did you ever stop to consider that maybe I was only going to include bug catchers that had left Viridian once to go to _Cinnabar_ on the list?" he hissed.

"No, because you didn-WAH!!"

Ash suddenly tripped, tumbled forward, and landed ungracefully on his face. Pikachu fell off his shoulder, then jumped up and yapped at Ash to be more careful.

"…Owww…" Ash groaned.

The door to the nearby house creaked as it was thrown open. "Oh my goodness!" cried a female voice, causing both boys to look up in surprise, "Are you alright!?"

Ash found himself staring into the beautiful, concerned face of a young, green-haired teen. After a second, he mentally slapped himself and reminded himself not to go into "Brock-mode."

"Y-yeah, I'm okay…" he replied shakily.  
The girl's eyes widened when she got a good look at his face. "Why, you're-! Master Ketchum! Oh, I'm so sorry! Here, let me help you up…"

She offered her hand and Ash took it, perhaps a bit too readily, and she quickly helped him to his feet. He grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.

"Please…Just call me Ash."

Gary snorted suddenly and when Ash glared at him, he started coughing into his hand to hide his laughter. Pikachu laughed too, but made no attempt to hide it. He thought it was funny whenever Pikapi tried to flirt, because Pikapi made every attempt to be subtle about it, but usually wasn't anyway. Still, Pikapi told him once, he'd become a celibate before he acted like Brock around pretty girls. Fat chance, Pikachu said.

Either way, the object of his attention at the moment wasn't paying attention to him, but rather to the ground behind him.

"Grandpa! How many times do I have to tell you? You can't sunbathe on the sidewalk!" she scolded.

Ash, Gary, and Pikachu sweatdropped as they turned and noticed for the first time exactly what, or rather, _who_ Ash had tripped over. He was a wrinkled old man, probably in his sixties or seventies, and he was lying in lawn chair with its legs still folded on the sidewalk. His face was folded into a scowl at the girl who was presumably his granddaughter.

"I can sunbathe wherever I want to!" he snapped at her crankily.

"But Grandpa, you just tripped Master Ketchum!"

"Uh…Ash," Ash reminded her cautiously.

"He should watch where he's going!" the old guy retorted.

"Heh…He's got a point there," Gary sneered.

"Oh shut up. It's not like you saw him," Ash muttered.

"Yeah, but at least I didn't trip over him!"

"Why don't y-!?" Ash started threateningly.

"Grandpa, why don't you come inside and have some coffee…?" the girl said gently, "It's your favorite…"

"Mmm…Coffee, eh?…I guess I can have some coffee now and worry about my tan later…Alright…"

The old man stood up, bones creaking, stretched briefly, then sauntered into the house that the girl had emerged from. She sighed and folded the lawn chair in half before tucking it under her arm, then turned to the boys apologetically. Pikachu jumped and took his perch on Ash's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, Master Ash and…Oh my! Leader Oak! I didn't see you there!"

Gary grinned and stepped forward, making a point to shove Ash just enough so he would notice it and the girl wouldn't, as he did so.

"My dear, you may call me Gary…" he said coolly, kissed her hand, and winked snidely at Ash, who silently fumed back at him while Pikachu held back giggles.

"Um…Thank you…My name's Cassandra…I'm very sorry for Grandpa's behavior…Um…Perhaps I can make it up to you by…inviting you in for coffee? Grandpa always feels better after a nice cup of coffee and I'm sure he'll apologize…"

Ash crossed his arms and frowned at the sidewalk. "We appreciate your offer Cassandra, but-"

"We'd be delighted," Gary finished for him.

"But Gary, we have to-"

"Ash, don't be silly. Are you really going to pass up a cup of coffee with this charming young lady for a silly monster hunt?"

Ash glanced at Cassandra once more, blushed, and stared at the sidewalk again. "Well…"

Gary grinned at her. "He means yes. Let's go in, shall we?"

She nodded and led them into her quaint little house. Her grandpa was seated at a round table adjacent the kitchen and scowled at her as they came in.

"Where's my coffee!?" he demanded.

"I'm getting it Grandpa!" she replied, "We have guests, so could you please be nice to them until I get your coffee?" She turned to Ash and Gary. "I'm sorry…You may take a seat now if you wish…I'll be back with the coffee…"

"Thank you, Cassandra," Gary smiled.

She nodded at him thankfully and with relief before disappearing into the kitchen, where immediately the sounds and smells associated with coffee-making began to drift outwards.

Gary smirked at Ash, mouthed, "Who's the master?" and winked.

Ash growled back and coldly picked out a chair and sat down. Out of four chairs, he happened to pick one that was adjacent to gramps, so Gary took the seat next to him, leaving the only open chair next to Gary, not Ash. That would be where Cassandra would have no choice but to sit.

The old man continued to scowl at them, his droopy face actually quite intimidating with that fixed look of disapprovement. First he scowled at Ash after he sat down next to him, then turned his scowl over to Gary when he sat down. Both boys quieted under his gaze, suddenly more than anxious for Cassandra to return.

Ash fidgeted in his seat after Pikachu hopped from his shoulder to the table and decidedly plopped himself down and waited for the coffee. Ash glanced at the old man, who in return, sent him a vicious frown. Ash then chose to glance at Gary, who at first looked just as scared as Ash did, but quickly replaced it with a sneer when he noticed Ash looking at him. Ash sighed to himself and slumped a little in his seat, praying that it would either be all over soon or Cassandra would make his stay worthwhile, because currently, he wasn't much enjoying himself at all.

Gary coughed, drummed his fingers on the table for a moment, and stared directly at the old man, who scowled right back at him. After a few seconds more, Gary just couldn't take it anymore.

"So uh…" he started out casually, "what's your name?"

Ash stared at Gary incredulously. He was actually attempting to make conversation!?

The man stared at him for a little bit longer before replying scratchily, "Douglas."

Gary nodded. "Douglas, huh…? My name's Oak. Gary Oak. You've probably heard of me…"

Ash groaned to himself and began to pray to the coffee gods that Cassandra would be finished soon…

Douglas peered at Gary suspiciously before stating firmly, "Nope. Never heard o' ya."

Gary cried out pathetically and fell out of his chair. He slowly crawled back into it and asked painfully, "You're kidding, right?"

"Nope," Douglas affirmed, shaking his head.

Gary whined again and dropped his forehead against the table.

Ash sat up again. "Uh…You've heard of me, haven't you?" he asked.

"…And who're you?"

Ash coughed and did his best imitation of Gary. "Ketchum. Ash Ketchum." After a second's thought, he winked and flashed the peace sign. "Pokémon Master extraordinaire!"

"Yeah, we know you're not ordinary," Gary mumbled, "You're just plain weird…"

"Shut up," Ash warned through gritted teeth.

Douglas looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, "Nope, never heard o' ya either. You Cassandra's new boyfriends?"

Before either had the chance to object, about the other of course, Cassandra entered carrying a tray with four steaming hot mugs of coffee, a coffee pot, a sugar bowl, a creamer.

"Grandpa!!" she gasped. Obviously, she'd overheard his last comment.

Douglas looked up and sniffed deeply. "Ahh…There's my coffee! Well, what are you waiting for, girl? Give it here!"

Cassandra sighed and set the tray down. She picked up a white mug with the word "Grandpa" written all over it in different colors and fonts and set it in front of Douglas. "Here you go, Grandpa. Lavendar Black with three scoops of sugar and one teaspoon of cream, stirred fifteen times. Just like every Friday."

Douglas took the mug with both hands and gave his granddaughter a warm smile. "Why thank you, dearest." He lifted the mug to his mouth and drank deeply.

Cassandra smiled sadly and turned to her guests, handing them each a mug of coffee. "Please help yourself to the the sugar and cream…" Pikachu gave her an unhappy puppy-dog-face and she exclaimed, "Oh my, I didn't realize your Pikachu would want something! Uh, should I go get-?"

"Uh…No that's okay," Ash said quickly, "I've got something for him…"

He quickly rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a full bottle of grade "A" ketchup. Pikachu took it with a happy squeal and immediately began licking the contents out drop by drop.

Everyone other than Pikachu sweatdropped at the sight. Gary'd seen it before, but he couldn't believe Ash was letting Pikachu eat ketchup in public…in front of a _girl!_ Cassandra and Douglas stared and sweatdropped, for obvious reasons, although Douglas was more interested in his coffee…and Ash just sweatdropped because everyone else was staring and sweatdropping.

"So um…" he began nervously and started dumping sugar into his coffee, "…how is everyone?"

"I'm…fine," Cassandra replied. She sat down daintily, poured one teaspoon of cream into her coffee, stirred it briefly, sipped, and set it down again.

Douglas finished another swig and held his mug in front of him, letting the aroma drift to his nose. "Ahhhh…There's nothing like coffee…" he sighed dreamily, "It just makes ya feel…_good_."

"Eheheh…" Gary chuckled and reached for the sugar before he realized the scoop was still in Ash's hand. "Ash, are you done with the sugar yet!? You must've put at least ten scoops in there!"

"What?…Oh! Um…Oops. Uh…Here you go, Gary…"

Gary snatched it and went about putting the "perfect" amount of sugar in his coffee. Ash, with a lack of means to fill his coffee with sugar, instead took the cream pitcher and poured quite a bit into his coffee, then set it back on the tray. He then began to stir it.

"Um, so what brings you to Viridian, Master Ketchum?" Cassandra asked.

Ash, who had just taken a sip of his now overly sweet coffee, coughed and gagged in surprise at the taste and the question, a small stream of the steaming liquid dribbled down his chin. He hastily wiped it off with his arm and tried not to cringe at the taste before he realized everyone was staring at him in shock. He sweatdropped.

"Um…I, I think put too much sugar…" he chuckled nervously.

"Do you want another one…?" Cassandra asked hesitantly.

"Uh, no, no that's okay. I don't really…coffee…um…"

Gary turned to smile at Cassandra. "Don't mind him. Just because he's a Pokémon Master doesn't mean he has any class." He took a decently long sip of his and sighed. "Mm, this is probably the best coffee I've ever tasted…A shame you ruined yours, Ash."

Ash could only glare at him while Cassandra smiled happily. "Why thank you, Gary," she said.

Ash coughed into his hand. He was getting fed up with the way Gary jumped at every opportunity to insult him, and the fact that Cassandra seemed to be more impressed with Gary than him. He decided to answer her earlier question.

"Um, actually we're here on official League business, so while it was very kind of you to invite us both in here, we really can't stay very long…"

Ash smirked to himself when Gary shot him a sharp glare.

"Oh my, it sounds important," Cassandra commented, obviously impressed, "Does it have anything to do with what happened at Cinnabar?"

"Well…" Gary began, but Ash cut him off.

"We're looking for someone," he answered, "Um, a retired bug catcher who caught a very rare Pokémon called MissingNo. a long time ago and released it at Cinnabar…"

"Ash!" Gary exclaimed, "You can't release all that information!"

"Why not?" Ash retorted, "Maybe she's heard of this guy."

"But-!"

The sudden sound of ceramic against wood made both of them stop to stare at the source. Cassandra's grandfather had, for the first time, set down his quarter-full mug of coffee on the table, and the blissful joy of drinking coffee had vanished from his face to be replaced with a faraway look in his deep set eyes, and his mouth was no longer smiling but wasn't quite frowning either.

"Grandpa? Are you alright?" Cassandra asked, concerned for this never-before-seen change in her grandfather.

He spoke to the two trainers without looking at them. "Where did you hear about this so-called 'MissingNo.'?"

"Uhh…" They glanced at each other. Ash spoke first. "Blaine of Cinnabar Island…He told us it was captured in the Viridian Forest by a bug-catcher and released at Cinnabar…"

"I heard you the first time," Douglas snapped, then returned to that strange pose he had before. "Well, whatever you heard is a lie. This MissingNo. of yours doesn't exist. Sorry to break it to you kids."

"What!? How would you know this?" Gary demanded, "Blaine wouldn't lie to us, and even if he did, I doubt Lance would believe him, let alone send us on a mission after it!"

The wrinkled old man turned sharply to Gary, dark eyes piercing into him. "You're looking for MissingNo.?"

Gary leaned back uncomfortably. "Uh…Well…Y-yeah…I'm…eh…I'm helping _him_…" he admitted.

All heads turned to Ash, who had no idea what to make of what was going on but it didn't seem to be good. "Uh…"

Douglas scoffed and stared into his coffee mug. "If this is truly the case, I'll give you one piece of advice and that is to give up on this fool's quest of yours before it's too late. It can only go wrong."

Ash blinked, piecing together everything that had been said thus far. "What makes you say that…? How would you know anything about this…unless…" His eyes widened. "You…You're him! You're the guy who caught MissingNo.!"

The two could only stare at each other, Ash in shock and uncertainty, Douglas in both anger and fear. Gary balked at Ash's realisation and wondered why he didn't think of that first.

"Grandpa!" Cassandra exclaimed, "What's going on? Is this true?"

"Quiet, girl," Douglas growled without looking at her. He grabbed Ash by the arm and leaned in close to him. His grip was tight and his eyes intense. "Listen to me boy. You don't want to go finding this, this monster. It's like nothing you or anyone has ever faced before. Stop this madness now before it's too late."

He released Ash who simply fell blankly back into his seat. Douglas quickly gulped down the rest of his coffee and loudly slammed his mug on the table. "I need more coffee!" he roared, "_Now!"_

"Uh, y-yes Grandpa," Cassandra said timidly and pried the mug from his fingers so she could pour him some more and properly fix it up for him.

Gary glanced from her to her grandpa, who was fixed in a rigid position with his eye glaring directly over Gary's shoulder, to Ash who seemed to be a form of shock. He glanced at Cassandra again. Yes, she was cute, but a grandfather like hers hardly made her seem worth the trouble, especially when they seemed to have bigger tasks on hand. After all, they'd gotten the information they'd come for…All that was left was to go for it.

He stood up and forcibly pulled Ash out of his seat, who wobbled until he realized he was standing up.

"We're much obliged to have your company, miss," Gary said, "but unfortuntately we have other matters to attend to and we'd hate to be a burden as well. We must be going now."

"Oh…Okay," Cassandra looked up at them, "Um, maybe you'll visit again someday?"

"Perhaps," Gary couldn't help but smile, "but for now, farewell."

There was a short silence before Ash realized it was his turn to speak. "Uh, th-thanks for the coffee," he stuttered.

Gary had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. "Yeah, thanks. Bye." With that he turned to leave, dragging Ash behind him while Pikachu loyally followed behind with the ketchup bottle. He'd just opened the door to leave when a sudden booming voice called out to them.

"You'll heed my warning son! If you know what's good for you, you'll leave that thing alone!"

"Yeah, whatever, thanks for the advice," Gary added before slamming the door behind the both of them.

Once outside, they both took a deep breath and sighed with relief.

"That was getting way too weird," Gary commented.

"Tell me about it…"

"At least we found the guy," Gary went on, "not that it did us a lot of good…All we learned is that MissingNo. exists and we already knew that."

Ash blinked. "That's all…?" He turned to Gary, confused, "But what about the warning and stuff?"

"Oh _please. Don't tell me you actually believe that junk? That old hoot is obviously off his rocker. He probably just thought it was dangerous because it probably knows a move better than Poison Sting!"_

"That's a lot of moves…" Ash pondered out loud.

"Yeah, but that's besides the point. I doubt we're gonna learn anything more about it from him, so we might as well head on over to Cinnabar to catch it and see for ourselves."

Ash stared at the ground. "…Are you really sure that's a good idea? I mean…"

"You're not still worried about it are you!? I don't believe this…" he groaned, "Look, if it's too big and scary for you to handle, I'll just fly on over there myself and capture it! Sheesh!"

Ash snapped his head up. "What!? You can't do that!"

"I will if you don't," Gary stated truthfully.

Ash narrowed his eyes. "Fine. I'll go over there and find it…"

"Don't forget you have to capture it too," Gary reminded him.

"Fine! I'll catch it! I didn't forget!"

"Good."

There was silence for a moment and finally Ash unclipped a Pokéball from his belt. "Well…I guess we'd better get going then. Don't wanna keep Lance waiting on us."

Gary grinned to himself at the fact that Ash had included Gary in this little mission despite his earlier insistence on doing it himself. Gary figured he must still be scared. Well that was okay. He hadn't been planning on letting this opportunity pass him up anyway. The fact that Ash was inviting him along just made it a little easier.

Gary also took out a Pokéball and threw it. "Pidgeot, let's go! Destination: Cinnabar Island!"

Ash grinned. He had to admit Gary's excitement was starting to get to him. He was probably right about the old guy anyway. There couldn't be anything to worry about. The guy had no idea what kind of Pokémon Ash had faced in the past, and surely this easily captured MissingNo. couldn't even stand up to them. He had nothing to worry about.

"Go, Pidgeot!" he called and released his own. He climbed on and immediately prepared for flight. He couldn't help but grin. "Hey Gary…?"

"Huh, what?" the other trainer asked.

"Race ya."

"…You're on."


End file.
